I’ve started to notice that some of my favorite breweries are hidden away in the least likely of places: small business centers, in nondescript white buildings, often joined on either side by auto detailers, clutch and transmissions specialists and furniture wholesalers.  It’s pretty far from the fields of barley and hop bines in beer commercials.  (Not that any of my favorite breweries run commercials.)  That certainly the case for The Bruery – located in the back of a small cul-de-sac, you can follow the steady stream of revelers carrying full growlers back from the loading dock.  Hiding just around there corner there are barrels, fermentors and brewers.

Once inside, I grabbed a pour of Melange #3 and introduced myself to head brewer Tyler King – who gladly gave me a tour of their facility.

In their small, space, he walked me, Eli, and eventually, some other curious imbibers around their facility.   The small space is packed with equipment, all of which is being run at maximum capacity. Their 15 barrel system is pumping out beer as fast as they can make it, and it isn’t even close to meeting the demand that has been generated for their brews – after only two years since they first opened the doors.

On tap in their tap room  (read: bar setup in the middle of the brewery) were selection of their regular brews, as well as some special one-offs.  One of my favorites of the night was a hand pumped cask of double dry-hopped Mischief. Regular Mischief is a nicely balanced belgian pale with a slightly bitter finish.  In the dry hopped version, cut grass and citrus run wild in the nose, creating a much more San Diego hops influenced beer.

“Want to try something fun for your blog?” Tyler asked.  (Pro beer blogger tip – the answer to question is always “yes!” )  He grabbed a bottle of sterile solution and walked me over to a fermentor, and pulled off two small samples. Out came a muddy, opaque brown beer.

The mystery beer turned out to be “mostly fermented” Black Tuesday.  The opaque brown character came from the yeast, still in suspension.  It’s taste was sweet, with a thick mouthfeel.  Tyler explained this particular batch was lower in alcohol (low = 15%  These things are relative) and destined for blending.

Our tour ended at their in-house lab.  Here’s Tyler’s brewmaster geekiness really began to show.  While sharing a bottle of Alaska’s Smoked Porter from 2006 (tastes like bacon), he explained the lengths they go to for quality control – including testing every batch for infection, as well as an in-depth sensory evaluation.  I remember at a talk given by Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada a few years ago, he talked about the importance of a lab.   Without it, you can never be really sure what’s going on in your beer, and that it’s going to end up in the hands of the customer the way the brewer intended.  Tyler takes the lab very, very seriously. Plus, it’s where they keep the yeast.

Tyler has a relationship with his yeast that would make most girlfriends jealous.  He knows how they’ll react to different treatments, how much booze they’ll produce, and how much abuse they’ll allow before giving up on chewing through the malt.  Much of this comes by way of the lab, and allows him to troubleshoot beers as they work their way through the brewing process.

It’s this kind of attention to detail that makes The Bruery’s beers really stand out. They’re adventurous to be sure, but by grounding that attitude in scientific detail and lab experimentation, they can also guarantee that the beer is consistent.  It’s helped propel their explosive growth for the last two years, and surely will continue to in the future.

Tags: bruery

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 3:11 pm and is filed under brewery tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.